Cheryl Cole was reportedly left furious after her X Factor Judges’ Houses round was plagued by troubles.

The judge, who was filming her portion of the round at a country house in Ascot, Berkshire, was apparently shocked to find that the property was surrounded by scaffolding as builders carried out extensive work on the mansion.

Filming took place while the construction work was still being finished, and Cole was then angered further when a builder dropped scaffolding while one of her acts was performing, reports The Sun. Recording was stopped again later on in the day as someone started using a loud vacuum cleaner.

The singer – making her return to the ITV1 show for the first time since she was diagnosed with malaria – is said to have fumed at executive producer Richard Holloway, and was supposedly comforted by will.i.am, who was acting as Cole’s guest adviser during the round.

A source said: “It was a letdown. The builders had to be told to stop work. All the acts were clearly affected.”